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(02/14/2004) Atty. Juvy Magsino and Leima Fortu were killed on February 13 by suspected elements of the 204th Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army in Naujan, Mindoro Oriental. Magsino was vice mayor of Naujan and a respected human rights lawyer while Fortu was the acting Secretary-General of KARAPATAN-Mindoro Oriental. The human rights organization KARAPATAN has denounced the killing and issued an urgent action alert. To date the human rights watchdog had documented 13 human rights workers and 41 Bayan Muna members and officers killed in cold-blood under the Macapagal-Arroyo regime.

A judicial council in Thessaloniki, Greece, decided today that evidence against 13 defendants accused for riot during the June 2003 EU Summit, including British protestor Simon Chapman, is not convincing and acquitted them from all charges.

Another six defendants, including the Spanish ex-hunger striker Carlos, are going to be charged with misdemeanours. For the other 8 defendants the court ordered the investigation to continue, as it spotted many gaps and contradictions in the statements of policemen and a lack of other evidence. This is a justification for the hunger strikers' struggle and for all of those who were claiming the charges were set up by the authorities.

On saturday, 7th February around 4000 people protested in Bologna, Italy, against the new italian law that puts severe limitations on artificial insemination and genetic & embryologic research. In Italy, the use of biotechnological methods for giving birth to a child is only consented to spouses or heterosexual couples living together. Based on an unclear and undefined 'bio-ethical' model, promoted by the vatican, an italian woman can't receive any sperm cell but the ones from her husband or 'fixed' partner. The law openly discriminates singles, homosexuals, infertile individuals and persons suffering from HIV or genetic diseases, in their desire for having a child. With Saturday's demonstration in Bologna, a national campaign of protest has been launched against a law that brings Italy back to the times of inquisition and fascism.

In the French City of Grenoble a group of activists, calling themselves "Les Ecocitoyens" occupied the Mistral Park on november 3rd last year. They wanted to protect the park where 300 trees will be cut down to build a soccer stadium. The first eviction notice was received at the end of December, so they feared eviciton since the beginning of January. To protest against the pending eviction a big demonstration was organised on January 25th, where 5000 people showed up to support the action camp and protest against the disappearing of the park.

Only a few days later the city council obtained a new eviction notice, so the Ecocitoyens (eco-citizens) maunched a new call for support . On the 5th of February, even before the appeal the Ecocitoyens made against the evcition order was treated in the court, the eviction started. Over one hundred friends and neighbours showed up to support the activists and to try to prevent the cutting of the trees. [Pictures] | [Video]. During the eviction an activist that was arrested, was hit in the face by a CRS (member of the riot police) after he hand been handcuffed and was forced to kneel down.

Months after the FTAA Ministerial in Miami, things are starting to come into focus. Not that the gobal justice movement ever saw it out of focus, but the "authorities" are starting to see what they levied in the streets of Miami.

It is coming to light everywhere that the police in Miami used excessive force and were definately not in the right...violating (or completely ignoring) first and fourth amendment rights. A judge hearing the cases of free trade protesters said in court that he saw "no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers"; this was a first step toward the realization of what happened.

A member of the Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP), who had previously prasied police chief John Timoney, resigned after his credibility was called into question by global justice activists. At the most recent CIP hearing, the Miami police admit absolute responsibility for the way activists were treated during the ministerial. The Miami police also recently put out a 66 page "whitewash" of how they dealt with the ministerial. Recently Miami Activist Defense filed a lawsuit attacking the Miami ordinance used during FTAA protests which also affects a majority of cases currently being prosecuted.

Debates and Actions around and outside the Climate Conference in Milan in December 2003 highlighted the root cause of climate change, the fossil fuel economy. According to a recent report to US Dept. of Energy on Peak Oil, "Peaking will be catastrophic". The lack of action by the United Nations, should make people around the world aware not to depend on states and corporations, but instead to create social-ecological alternatives in our daily lives. Or maybe its time to start preparing for Life after the Oil Crash.

On 31 January 2004, for the first time in Europe, mobilizations took place all over fortress Europe simultaneously on the same day. This was agreed at the European Social Forum in Paris, where activists and migrants organisations declared three goals: The closure of detention centers, the regularization of all immigrants in Europe and the recognition of the right of exile.

The about 50 locations in 11 countries included Spain, France, Austria, Swizerland, the UK, Germany, Belgium and Italy. GlobalRadio and Project Melting Pot Europe reported on satellite frequencies and on the internet, transmitting from the studios of Padova, Rome, Malaga and Madrid.

The 9 Ladies protest camp which was set up in 1999 to oppose the quarrying of 3.2 million tonnes of stone from a 30 hectare site in the Peak District National Park, England, is facing imminient eviction. The 4,000 year old Iron Age Stone Circle, Nine Ladies, has over the 20th Century, been threatened by quarrying. Lees Cross and Endcliffe are old dormant quarries lying on the eastern moorside just below the stones, but after 50 years of not being worked the area is now heavily wooded.

If the quarry goes ahead the Duke of Rutland, owner of Haddon Hall will make around £100 million and the quarry company will no doubt make more and a 100m deep scar will blight a beautiful, and well loved landscape (arial view of the site). The protest camp consists of tree houses and benders scattered across the whole site, many in places that are inaccessible to vehicals, most linked up with rope walkways. The final legal steps to evict the protestors were completed at the end of January and attempts to evict the protestors are now expected at any time.

After the military cycle that killed hundreds of thousands of people and devastated their economies, Latin Americans are gradually recovering from their tragic recent past. Reacting to foreign intrusion and the FTAA - which is viewed as an aggression against their liberty and self determination - Latin America is moving towards the creation of a single confederation from the Rio Grande to Cape Horn, called "Patria Grande" (Big Fatherland). The epicenter of this peaceful revolution is Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez is inspired by the ideas of Simon Bolivar and other revolutionaries such as Zapata, Sandino and Che Guevara. One of his projects is Petroamerica , a merger of the state-owned Latin American oil companies to compete on equal terms with the giant private corporations.

In most Latin American countries, left-wing parties are winning elections. In others, rulers who followed neoliberal policies were deposed by popular uprisings, Indigenous movements playing a leading role in them. Latin America's Indigenous and African roots are being revalued and are influencing a new generation of artists and writers.

Latin American countries are also pursuing a more independent foreign policy. They formed the bulk of the G-22 group that successfully resisted the US/UE axis in Cancun. Last week, after being criticized by the US Department of State for his relations with Venezuela and Cuba, Argentinian President Kirchner said that his country is not a "doormat" of the United States any more. He is also considering a referendum where the people will decide whether they should continue paying the foreign debt. It is estimated that more than 80% of the population would vote "no". Latin Americans strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq, and Brazil's Lula has recently visited several African and Arab countries, calling for a Latin American/African/Arab partnership.

Sydney: On January 30, Dr Will Saunders and Dave Burgess were sentenced to 9 months imprisonment to be served in periodic detention. (photos outside court) The two activists have also been ordered to pay the Sydney Opera House Trust's full compensation demand of $151,000. They were charged with "malicious damage" for painting NO WAR in 5 metre high blood-red letters on the Sydney Opera House - two days before Bush, Blair, and HoWARd started invading Iraq on March 20, 2003. [Read an interview] More on Sydney Indymedia.

In Ireland, peace activist/Catholic Worker Ciaron O'Reilly returns to Dublin's Four Courts on Monday February 2nd. Along with other members of the Pit Stop Ploughshares he is charged with $US2.5 million "criminal Damage (sic)" to a US Navy War Plane at Shannon Airport. Charges arise from a nonviolent disarmament action at Shannon, Co. Clare on 3rd February 2003. [Jan 26 Report and Photos

From May 9th to September 26 of 2004, Barcelona will host the "Universal Forum of Cultures," one last spectacular international event while it is still eligible for EU development funding, before the EU turns its development money to its newer members from eastern Europe. The predicted total cost of the Forum 2004 is about two thousand million Euros (about 2.5 billion dollars). Of these expenses, only 319 million Euros will go to the actual contents of the forum; the other 1,740 million will go to "urban renewal" which includes expropriating public land and homes that belong to Barcelona residents, as well as evicting numerous squats and social centers, to make room to put in luxury housing, hotels, shopping centers, office buildings, and information-technology infrastructure. Numerous real-estate speculators and "development" corporations have already bought the siezed land.

Mexican armed forces have attacked the Chol indigenous community of Nuevo San Rafael, burning down 23 houses and violently evicting the inhabitants, who are Zapatista sympathisers. The attack, reported variously as happening on either 19 or 22 January, took place in the remote Montes Azules jungle area of Chiapas.

Resource-rich Montes Azules has long been coveted by multinationals. As the governments and multinationals press forward with the Plan Puebla Panama and Free Trade Area of the Americas, the "war of low intensity" against the thousand-plus Zapatista autonomous communities erupts into blatant repression. The Secretary of Government of Chiapas, Ruben Velazquez Lopez, promises more evictions, declaring that land invasions will no longer be tolerated.

The fate of the inhabitants of Nuevo San Rafael is unknown, as the army is preventing reporters and human rights observers from entering the area. Local indigenous Chol, Josue Jimenez Cruz, has been arrested, and is apparently imprisoned in the town of Ocosingo. International solidarity activity is vital, declare Zapatista solidarity groups.

The Brussels ICT-trainingcenter for women Interface3 organised the third Digitales-days event this week. For three days workshops and forums were organised where (mostly) female trainees, ICT-professionals, cyberartistsen media(h)ac(k)tivists from Belgium [ 1 | 2 ], the Netherlands [ 1 | 2 ], Germany, France [ 1 | 2 | 3 ] Spain, Italy [ 1 | 2 | 3 ], the US and Canada could meet eachother. This unique initiative didn't just give women in the ICT training program a chance to meet with female artists and activists. It was also a nice occasion for female cyberactivists to get in touch with each other and exchange experiences. Check out the reports about the whole event on Indymedia Belgium.

While some segments of U.S. society like rightwing fundamentalists are being given the right to proselytize in national parks, other citizens are finding their civil rights being curtailed. Some activists in the States have been denied the right to travel and, of course, the recent police state installed in Miami during the FTAA demonstrations denied citizens the right to free assembly and protection from unreasonable search and seizure. The top cop behind the Miami outrage was police chief John Timoney, who also created similar zones of constitutional abuse during the Republican National Convention in 2000. One of the activists arrested there is still facing charges brought by Timoney.

In Boulder, Colorado activists discovered tracking devices attached to their cars. While in nearby Las Vegas the Feds used a little-known provision in the Patriot Act to bust a strip club owner for actions totally unrelated to terrorism. The so-called "Patriot" Act and recently enacted provisions of Son of "Patriot" Act are chilling in their blatant assault on constitutional rights. However, a recent court ruling overturned one such provision. The Act itself is up for review in congress this year, but the Bush regime is pushing for its' expansion at the same time that some legislators are attempting to roll it back.

At the same time, the Whitehouse is seeking heightened internet surveillance and the U.S. military is moving into surveillance on the home front. Such assaults on the Constitution and the rights of U.S. citizens should give voters pause during this election year. Another four years of the Bush regime could spell disaster for the "Land of the Free".

While George Bush Jr. pandered to rightwing extremists during Tuesday night's State of the Union address, local activists with the No RNC Clearinghouse packed Judson Memorial Church to continue planning massive street protests for this August when Bush comes to New York to receive the Republican nomination. Various working groups discussed everything from guerrilla theatre to the logistics of housing hundreds of thousands of visiting protesters to the training of legal observers and street medics. The outreach working group announced it would be organizing community forums around the city this spring in advance of a New York Summer full of activism. Other groups are also organizing for the RNC including Still We Rise and People's Primary.

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Three days ago the Narmada Bachao Andolan began an occupation of the back entrance to the State Building of Maharashtra in Mumbai, India. Their demands are over 20 years old and include an end to big dam construction on the Narmada River and satisfactory compensation, rehabilitation, and resettlement of Adivasis (tribal peoples) who have been displaced by flooding of their villages.

The current protest is in response to the recent Narmada Control Authority decision to allow the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam to continue to a height of 110 meters. At least 12,000 families in Madhya Pradesh will face submergence and displacement without any resettlement, while at least 3000 tribal families in Maharashtra are in their villages and 2000 oustees are yet to be declared as oustees and resettled.

Over the last fifty years, around 50 million people have been flooded out of their villages. Most of these people have never received any sort of compensation or resettlement assistance from the Indian government.